Mary Hansen, partner at Duane Morris.

Just as she expects her practice to pick up in the wake of economic downturn and resulting increased financial regulatory scrutiny, a Philadelphia-based former SEC lawyer has made a move from Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath to Duane Morris.

Mary Hansen, who joined Duane Morris on Monday, is a partner in the firm's trial practice group. Prior to the move, she was co-head of Faegre Drinker's white-collar defense and investigations practice.

She spent seven years as a partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath, which merged with Minneapolis-based Faegre Baker Daniels in February. Before that she was assistant director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement.

"Duane Morris has an awesome, broad-based practice group, and I think they have a lot of clients that could benefit from my experience at the government and expertise with the SEC and other financial regulatory matters," Hansen said in an interview. She said she had been in talks with the firm for a while, but that her move was not related to the merger between Faegre Baker Daniels and Drinker Biddle & Reath.

"I really made this move because it was the right thing for me at the right time, and it was a logical next step for me to bring my practice up to the next level," she said.

Hansen declined to name her clients but said they would all be moving with her to Duane Morris. They include investment advisers, broker-dealers, financial services industry clients and public and private companies.

She represents clients in federal and state regulatory investigations, and in connection with litigation involving state and federal financial regulatory agencies, such as the SEC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the National Futures Association and the Department of Justice. She also leads internal corporate investigations involving potential violations of federal securities law and executive and employee misconduct.

"Mary's experience, which includes both government service and private practice, is going to be a great benefit for our clients that interact with regulatory agencies," Duane Morris CEO Matthew Taylor said. "We are excited to welcome her to the firm and to provide the services of another highly skilled attorney to our clients."

As she steps into her new role at Duane Morris, Hansen said she expects her practice to expand and that she will do more work with public companies. And as the coronavirus has upended the economy, she said she expects to see an uptick in investigations from financial regulatory agencies, particularly regarding corporate disclosures, responses to the pandemic and potential fraud.

"It's a busy time for financial regulators, because a good economy sometimes acts as a barrier to a lot of fraud being detected because no one's complaining," she said. "Clients need help navigating investigations where at the end of the day, even if there won't be a finding of wrongdoing, that's not going to stop financial regulators from asking the hard questions and questioning business decisions that had to be made quickly. There are a lot of opportunities there for me to help."

Hansen's move also comes on the heels of a merger by Duane Morris—the firm combined with New York-based Satterlee Stephens on Feb. 1. She said that group, which is focused on financial institutions, would be an asset to her practice.

"I was excited to hear about the transaction, and it definitely impacted my decision to come over here because I also fit well within that group," she said. "A New York presence is important to me, because New York is the financial center of not just the U.S., but in some ways the world."

A spokesperson for Faegre Drinker was not immediately available to comment on the move.

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